I thought, “Do they know what they are letting themselves in for?” as I am not the most subtle of speakers. I was immediately reassured by Irna Qureshi, one of the festival founders, she let me know that I was just the ticket they needed. Such a sweet lovely lady maasha’allah.

Bradford Literature Festival Featured Author Speaker

The organizers put us up in the swanky midland hotel and we hit the ground running. Bumping into Festival Photographer Mark davits in the hotel lobby and then once again in the town square, casually leaning up against flag pole, he asked me,

“How would you feel about walking through eh center of the town’s foundation?

Moments later, soaked from head to foot, thank God I took my biker boots off, he was grinning from ear to ear telling me the foto was called liberation and it would be entered for the spirit of Bradford competition at The Caravan Gallery.

The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford

I had an amazing young, bright and sparky PA with me all the time, a young Pakistani sister who is set for great things inshaa’allah.

We ate great curry at Kashmir , near the Alhambra Theatre and the restaurateurs wrapped up all the untouched left overs which we gave to a couple of homeless who were made up by the gesture.

Kashmir Curry House, Bradford, the Best Peshwari Naan

The talk went well,alhmdulilah, it was more like an intimate conversation with a group of health conscious spiritual people than a lecture, just the sort of crowd I like.